January 2007 Summary

Mr. James Richardson of the law firm Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione spoke to us about recent developments in patenting and gave us his thoughts on possible future developments. Patent litigation is expensive and should be avoided if possible. Most individuals cannot afford patent litigation. Some legal firms will take a case on a contingency basis, but you must convince them you have a good case. Few firms will take a case that has damages under $10 million. It will cost the firm perhaps $1½ - 2 million to handle the case. Litigation occurs in a federal court, and can last as long as 2 years. The U.S. Supreme Court has final jurisdiction. In response to one of its recent rulings, the patent office is increasing the stringency of the standard of "nonobviousness" - a patentability requirement for the subject matter of a patent application. An increasing number of companies based in Taiwan and China are now seeking U.S. patents. The Congress is considering legislation that would give the public the right to challenge an issued patent in the patent office, and that would grant a patent to the first inventor to file a patent application (rather than our current grant to the first inventor to invent). We certainly thank Mr. Richardson for his presentation and look forward to hearing from him next time.